Cleaning machine



Dec. 30, 1941- .1. w. CHAMBERLIN ETAL 2,267,785 l CLEANING MACHINE Original Filed March 6, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR, JOHN W CHFl/VBERL/N ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 30, 19,41.

J. CHAMBERLIN ET AL CLEANING MACHINE original Filed March 6, 193':

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 zNvENToR. Jo/w w c/w/wafRL/N Y BY Rex :FRL assEv-T, JR.

I/mym/@ ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 30, 1941` VcLEANlNG MACHINE John w. Chamberlin and mx Earl nassen, Je., South Bend, Ind., assignors to Bendix Home Appliances, Inc., South Bend, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Original application March 6, 1937, Serial No.v 129,429. Divided and this application Septem-A ber 26, 1938, Serial-No. 231,653

. 1l claim. This invention relates to the washing and cleaning of clothes andsimilar materials, and is described below in connection with an automatically controlled machine for washing and rinsing and drying clothes. Because of variations in hardness and other qualities of the water, it is lnot possible to set up standards as to the quantity of soap or other detergent required for washing machines used .in different localities. At the same time it is very important, in securing maximum efliciency, that approximately the correct quantity be used. Commercial laundries can afford-to make careful analyses and extensive tests, but in operating domestic washing machines the quantity of detergent y required has heretofore I been left to guesswork.

An object of the present invention is to so lconstruct and arrange a domestic washing machine that the addition of detergent maybe made under close observation while the machine is in operation, whereby the quantity added may be gaged accurately by direct observation of the suds formed. The machine is constructed with a glazed window through which its operation may be watched, and with means abovethe water level for introducing the detergent while the machine is running and contains a full load of clothes and wash Water.

Preferably the window is mounted in the door through which the work is introduced into the machine;l in the arrangement illustrated the clothes are washed in an open-.ended horizontal cylinder and the window forms part of a vertical door-substantially closing the open end of the cylinder. The cylinder is inclosed ina tub containing the wash water, and the described door forms part of the front wall of the tub. 'I'he means illustrated for `the introduction of detergent comprises a soap door carried by the tub wall above the clothes door.

The above and other objects and features of the invention. including variousnovel arrangements and desirable constructions, will be apparent from the following description of the washing machine shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through an automatic washing-rinsing-drying machine embodying the invention;

Figure 3 is a dia-gram of the cycle of Operations; and

Figure 4 is a wiringdiagram.

. While the invention is applicable to any ma- I chine havinga washing operation, it is described below in connection with the automatic Washingrinsing-drying machine described and claimed in our application No. 129,429, filed March 6, 19.37, A Patent No. 2,165,884, granted July 11, 1939, of

which application the present application is a division. f

The particular machine illustrated comprises a casing consisting of suitable top andfront vand side panels I0 and I2 and I4, removably mounted in any desired manner on a base I6. If desired, various combinations of these panels may be made integral with each other, as for example the top panel I0 and one or more of the side panels I4.

As one convenient and rigid mounting for the tub and rotor parts described below, there may be secured to the rear of the base I6 a triangular bracket I8 having its peripheral portion of channel section to provide stiffness and strength, and provided'with a central plate portion or web 20, and which carries a shaft bearing 22 at its apex. The base I6 also has secured to its forward portion one end ofa second bracket 24 which has an inclined portion 26 leading to and through, and if desired rigidly secured to, the plate 20 and which then extends upwardly at 28 to support a second shaft bearing 30 spaced rearwardly from and alned with the bearing 22. A vertical third bracket 32 is shown mounted at the front of the base.

A cylindrical horizontal metal tub 34, covered with suitable heat and sound insulatingmaterial,- is rigidly mounted between the brackets I8 and 32. Within the tub 34 is a rotatable perforated generally cylindrical drumv or clothes container 38, formed with several baffles or inwardly-projecting ribs 40. The head of the drum 381s radially ribbed or otherwise formed to stiien it, and is secured to a head or spider formed or keyed or otherwise secured on one end of a shaft 42 journaled in the bearings 22 and 30. A U- section stamping 43 may be welded to the upperends of the two shaft-supporting brackets, to tie them together and to hold the bearings 22 and 30.

Between the bearings 22 and 30 the shaft 42 is provided with a pulley 44 for a V-belt passing over an idlerpulley adjustably mounted in a slot in the plate portion 20 of the first bracket, and over adrive pulley on the driven shaft of a two- 4 speed vtransmission rigidly connected to and driven by a main motor 56 (Fig.,4), all as fully described in our above-identified patent.

The tub 34 has pivoted thereto a clothes door 58 having a latch 60, and which swings either down to a horizontal position whenopen, or upward to closed position, as shown in Figure 2. If means is provided for holding the door in a. horizontal position, it forms aconvenient support in front of the opening.

The door, in accordance with the present invention, has its central portion made of glass,

glazed door 58 and accurately control th e amount of soap added. The door 62 shown in the drawings is mounted on a bowed stamping 63 mounted on a pivot 65 inside the machine, so that it closes: flush with the casing, and a bowed spring 6l acts on it in tension with a toggle action to hold it shutr or open, according to Whether the ends of the spring are in a line on one side or the other of the hinge 65. 'I'he door closes against a frame in the form of anannular stamping 1| secured to the tub 34 about the soap door opening theref in. Thestamping 63 is provided with wings 69, and is so shaped as to form a receptacle for soap powder when the door is horizontal, and to dump the soap powder into the machine when the door is swung shunt to its vertical position.

Water, at the desired temperature, or hot and l .cold water from suitable supply connections, is

introduced into the tub 34 through hose connections 64, under the control of valves operated by solenoids or the like 68a and 6817, being injected into the tub through a nozzle projecting through the frame 10 of the door 58.

As hereinafter more fully explained, the water level in thetub is determined by including in the circuit of the solenoids- 68 a switch 12, at predetermined high and low water levels.

The water is preferably injected at a temperature (e. g. 110 F.) suitable for Washing Woolens and the like. Instead of putting in hotter vwater in the iirst place when cotton materials are to be washed, we may inject the water at the lower (110) temperature, and then heat it to raise the temperature (e. g. to around 160 F.) during the washing of the clothes. For example, an immersion heater, or an'electric resistance heater, shown as a ring 'I9 surrounding the drain colla; 0| at the bottom of the tub, may be provide tiiied parent application, by means controlled by a solenoid |60.

4The entire operation of the machine is controlled by a timer switch driven by a switch motor 2H, and opening and closing in a predetermined cycle switches or contacts 2, 3, 4, and 5. These contacts control respectively circuits through (1) ythe motors 56 and 2M, (2) the `speed-change solenoid |60, (3) the drain valve solenoid 98, and (4) and (5) the hot and cold water connection control solenoids 68a and 68h. The latter has in series therewith a thermostat 19 affected by the temperature of the water being injected into the machine.

lThe machine operates according to the cycle set forth diagrammatically in Figure 3, and which is described in detail in our above-identified parent application No. 129,429.

It will be seen that, after loading the machine, the automatic control switch causes the machine to ll with wash water, in order to soak the clothesthoroughly, and then stop. When it is again started, lled now with a load of soaked wet clothes, it fills to a predetermined level with wash water, and then follows automatically through a complete washing-rinsing drying cycle.

It is at the beginning ofA this cycle, during and immediately following the injection of the wash water, that the operator gradually adds soap powder or other detergent through the door 62, while watching the suds formation through the window 58, until the proper quality of suds isV secur-ed.A While one machine has been described in detail, it is not the intention to limit the scope of 5 the invention to that particular machine, or

otherwise than by the terms of the appended claim.

We claim:

In a washing machine a door above the water level in the machine operable to permit the addition of soap, said door being formed to act as a soap receptacle when the door is in open position and to dump the soap into the machine when the door is closed.

JOHN W. CHAMBERLIN. REX E ARL BASSEITE, Ja. 

